The city clerk approved on Tuesday the recall petition for Mayor Alfonso E. Ortiz, Jr., meaning that those spearheading the effort now have 60 days to gather enough signatures to force the recall election.

Under the city charter, the petition needs to be signed by a number equal to at least 25 percent of those who voted in the last regular city election in order for the recall to move forward. The last regular city election, which occurred in March 2012, drew 3,748 votes, setting the signatures needed at about 937.

A suspected heroin addict’s car was found abandoned on the railroad tracks at Railroad Avenue and Pecos Street on Sunday afternoon, and when a city police officer saw an oncoming Amtrak train barreling toward it, he jumped in and drove it off the tracks.

Some local officials in New Mexico are fretting over their inability to ban all fireworks as the fire season approaches.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that a proposal to expand the authority of the state, cities and counties to ban all fireworks was derailed during the last legislative session.
A 1999 law limited what cities and counties can do in regulating fireworks.

BOSTON — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, U.S. officials said Tuesday, adding another piece to the body of evidence they say suggests the two brothers were motivated by an anti-American, radical version of Islam.

Tuesday, April 23 — Four student sports writers at Robertson High School interviewed All-Pro end Lionel Taylor of the Denver Broncos. They were Jim Maldonado, Robert Thatcher, Don Tarbet and Mark Johnson. The interview was held during the sports writing workshop held on the Highlands University campus as part of Highlands Day and the meeting of the New Mexico High School Press Association. Taylor played for the Highlands Cowboys before entering the professional football ranks.

The entry deadline for the fifth annual Baby Miss Las Vegas and Baby Mister Las Vegas Pageant is Friday. Entry forms may be picked up at the Abe Montoya Recreation Center or the Chamber of Commerce or can be obtained by sending an email to ortiz87701@yahoo.com. The pageant, slated for June 2, is sponsored by the Miss Las Vegas Scholarship Organization.